Summer Palace

Today, we had another busy day planned and unfortunately we started the day off exhausted. We were to visit the Summer Palace, the old Summer Palace, the Botanical Gardens and the Reclining Buddha. By 3pm we had only visited the Summer Palace and had lunch and all four of us were ready to go home and relax. We are going to re-visit this schedule of ours tonight because with two kids in tow we are just not able to get around very quickly.

The Summer Palace is where all of the residents of the Forbidden City would relocate for the summer months. Apparently, the FC was very hot and the Summer Palace was built around a man-made lake (Kunming) that although just 9 miles from the FC was much cooler. Everything we have seen in Beijing is grand and gorgeous and awe-inspiring and the Summer Palace was no exception. I thought the FC was enormous and was surprised to learn that the Summer Palace was actually 4 times larger! My only regret is that I would love to see it in the summer when everything is in bloom and it's possible to get out onto the lake. We took our time and wandered in and out of courtyards and archetypal Chinese gardens, and everywhere the shimmering lake was in view.

I've attached some pictures of the longest painted corridor in the world. It was restored for the Olympics and it's restoration is spectacular. You could spend all day looking just at the pictures painted on the corridor ceiling.

On the way out Elle was thrilled to discover a place where we could all dress as Emperors and Empresses. She loved it and it was good for a laugh all the way around!

Elle was tired of eating rice so we had lunch at a Papa John's, and actually the pizza was quite good. I do not understand the Asian fondness for corn on pizza, however. Over lunch Alex and I traded tidbits about our differing cultures. I asked her about something I read in my guidebook. I had read that many Beijing parents are so busy that they send their toddlers to boarding school and only pick them up for weekends. I found this unbelievable, but she said it is quite true. In fact, she herself was sent to boarding school starting at age 3. She remembers crying all the time. She said the practice is not as common today as it was years ago, but still it is not uncommon.

Later, I asked her what Liu Pei was doing while we were eating, and she said probably talking to his concubine. Justin and I laughed out loud at her joke, but she wasn't joking. She was quite serious. She told us that most Chinese men have concubines still, mistresses that they support fully. The wives pretend not to know because divorce is still too hard to get in China and there is a stigma carried by those who do divorce and they often can not remarry.